By Esteban Ramirez
Sports Editor
The CSU Bakersfield men’s basketball team fell in its regular season finale to Utah Valley University 74-69 in a Western Athletic Conference game at Orem, Utah on March 7.
The Roadrunners (13-18, 7-7 WAC) lost to the Wolverines, due to UVU’s three-point shooting. UVU went 14 of 25 from behind the three-point line and sophomore forward Zach Nelson led the Wolverines with seven three pointers. Nelson finished with 29 points and nine rebounds.
CSUB fell behind early in the game and trailed by as much as 14 points in the first half. The Roadrunners went into halftime down 39-29. The Roadrunners’ defense responded in the second half by holding the Wolverines to 44 percent.
They were able to cut into the lead and only trailed 66-61 with 3:20 left in the game. However, UVU was able to keep its composure and put the game away.
Despite losing their last two games, the Roadrunners were still able to hold on to the number four seed in the WAC Tournament, which will start on March 12 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
CSUB will get a chance to get some redemption in its first-round matchup, as it will play the number fifth-seeded UVU on March 12 at 2 p.m.
“The work is easier in the standpoint of that you have some recent film and some recent experience with them,” Barnes said. “We feel like we know their personnel because we just played against them. We feel like we gave pretty good effort and did what we needed to do on the offensive end but we have to defend better from the three. We feel if we do that then we should be OK.”
Barnes added that the team will focus on slowing down Nelson, who averaged 25 points in two games against the Roadrunners.
“I think we need to realize that he can shoot and he has shot the ball well against us,” he said. “Even though if you look at his stats, he is a pretty good three-point shooter but he shot it better against us than against other teams. “[Therefore], we will be determined in this particular game to take the three pointer away from him and make him score his points in another way. We have to make adjustments come this Thursday when it comes to Zach Nelson.”
In the Feb. 5 matchup against UVU, the Roadrunners beat the Wolverines 72-69 at the Icardo Center.
“I thought they shot the ball well, but now we get them in a neutral site,” Barnes said. “We feel good about where we are as far as our position. Everyone is 0-0 right now and we can wash out the window, and the team that can put together [the best] 120 minutes this week will win so hopefully that’s us.”
